Online teaching and classroom platforms: yesterday and today

This is how I taught 12 years ago: in magazines, in highly edited short articles that only hinted at all I actually wanted to share. 📓

These are a few of my articles in magazines like “Memory Makers” and “Scrapbook Answers.” I also wrote and published a book called “Get It Scrapped” (which is still on Amazon!).
Then the magazines started ceasing publication, and I was sad at first.😟

I was sad until . . . I realized I could build my own platform where I could teach the way I really wanted. I bought the domains for my name “debbiehodge” and for “GetItScrapped” and set up a community forum (this was back in 2007) and started teaching right on the forums with a private category and gallery, adding students in manually the night before class started.

Since then, many online classroom platform options have become available, and I've gone through a few, finally settling on WordPress + a membership plugin. 🍏

Sometimes people confuse their “class” with their “classroom.” They think the tech is where to start.

It's not, though. Start first with your class content! And with your people. You can teach at the beginning without a classroom. Just use an ecommerce tool that delivers links to your pdfs or videos or audios.

Eventually you will want a classroom. When you do, there are basically three types of platforms to consider.